Heroes of a New World

And you shall be as gods, knowing both good and evil...

The Heroes Return! Fight for the Future!

Boy have our heroes been up to a lot since the last update!

The culprit who killed Bai turned himself into custody uttering that he had only a fuzzy recollection of the incident but felt such guilt after having done it he had to turn himself in. The heroes quickly realized foul play was afoot but other more serious problems presented themselves.

The team having defeated Freddy in battle previously was called in by the government to protect the criminal during the arraignment from the wrath of the Freddy Koss who had sworn vendetta on Bai’s killer. While holding back the rioting mob outside of the building the heroes and police were attacked by several masked villains who looked to capitalize on the chaos created by the crowd to try and abduct the suspect while he was being held in the Sacramento federal building awaiting trial. Led by a mysterious woman who could teleport out of people, Ali “Arash” El-Shekeil, and another masked villain who exhibited extreme combat prowess by knocking out a dozen officers in a matter of seconds.

Our heroes, having been called up to protect the suspect against the mob, Freddy Koss’ vendetta and now a new group of villans met the challenge with courage, wits, and brawn. Having bought time for the suspects escape the villains retreated from the now smashed state building and surrounding area.

Having fought off the surprise appearance of several baddies with a nefarious plan the heroes returned home to lick their wounds and figure out what was next.

Six months later, having honed their skills and upgraded their arsenal things were quiet… too quiet.

Subtley, over the course of a few days radio communication and then digital was at first inconvenienced and then silenced utterly. Even Cazamir’s technological marvels couldn’t overcome the increasing unreliability to use communication equipment. Cazamir and Adam worked together in the respective environments to try and solve the problem. Cazimir received an unexpected call from Concordant Central warning him of an impending attack by the feared Xanti Imperium. Strangely, the Xanti knew that this was a neutral territory but violated the treaties saving earth from outside interference.

Cazamir was told they were sending a specialist to his position to ascertain the disposition of the Empire’s forces. After saying his goodbyes and making sure people were aware of the imminent invasion Cazimir, Stardragon, and Dovahn Bahn, a werren intelligence office within the Concordant flew as quickly as they could to the landing site of the invasion – Washington D.C.

Gathering their forces, the heroes were challenged by the general of the Imperial forces to one-on-one combat to decide the fate of the city. Adam, Cazamir and the rest (sans The Rain who elected to keep justice intact in his hometown of Chicago) faced down the general in her massive battlemech and a contingent of Alien Lizards referred to as “Beta’s” the group had previously fought.

The group was comprised of several of their former foes who stood for humanity and friends who could make it on time. Surprisingy Jean Mougey, Ali “Arash” El-Shekeil, and Freddy Koss showed up to take on the alien menace. The greatest among them was Jorge Valderama who swooped in at the last second to assist the heroes.

Shockingly the general deployed some kind of mind control ray which turned their greatest hero to their most dangerous foe. Freddy Koss, not being one to mince words immediately attacked the mind-controlled hero. Their punches like booming thunder were evenly matched, trading blow for blow as the rest of the heroes moved to subdue the foe.

Cazimir and Leonidas led the group of heroes in battle while The Masked Muscle took on the General’s battlesuit almost singlehandedly. Maggie and Norman using their superior mobility helped to control the fight and turn the tide when things looked bleak. With several of the heroes playing support roles and Maggie evacuating and downed comrades they slowly overcame the troop of lizards as Adam and Freddy battled solo against their foes.

Jorge’s insurmountable strength and endurance eventually overcame Freddy and knocked the huge brute into the next quadrant of the city. Leonidas, sensing an impending problem should he failed decided to pit his superior combat ability against the overwhelming might of the Venezuelan superman. The battle tore apart the D.C. mall in a matter of minutes, blowing away soldiers and their vehicles in the titanic struggle.

Although he managed to land many blows, his strongest attacks barely fazed the South American superhuman. His defense could only hold out so long until the massive disparity in power caught him. His defenses failing him Leonidas was knocked out cold and driven straight into the ground like a stake.

Meanwhile, Adam, summoning strength beyond 100% managed to finally penetrated the defenses of the giant robotic suit and started caving in the armor and lazer blasts and missiles took out his comrades one by one. Her latest victim was Cazimir taking a final and incredibly strong blow from her lazers was blown into the base of the Washington Monument The fight was a race to do as much damage as possible before the weapons could be trained on him – at extreme close range they were certain to kill him instantly.

Norman, now taking up the mantle as Maggie moved the injured to a safer place distracted the mighty hero as he attempted the stop the speedster in one punch. Meanwhile, Leonidas, hanging on to consciousness by a thread tried to reach the mind of the enthralled jorge with no success. As Norman’s fate was nearly sealed by a lucky strike Freddy Koss stormed back onto the scene and knocked Jorge out of the way saving Norman from certain death.

As Jorge and Freddy continued their fight Adam finally struck a deathblow to the superstructure of the mighty robotic battlesuit. jumping off out of harms way as the massive warmachine detonated. The remaining heroes, realizing the day had won celebrated their victory by picking up their fallen from the field.

They were then invited by a fuzzy transmission from Xerxes to return to Space 1 command to set up a plan to repel the rest of the invasion. Leonidas, Adam, and Cazimir were remarkably fully healed from their previous encounter by a mysterious technology within Xerxes personal jet which had picked them up.

Upon landing they were ushered into a uniquely set-up room that had many strange design decisions including reinforced doors and high ceilings. Although wary of any meeting with Xerxes and Alice, let down his guard upon seeing his friend Soo ji. As the meeting began the heroes asked how the captain of industry managed to break through the jamming. Xerxes, perplexed, answered that he thought the heroes had been the ones sending the signal. Suspicious glares were thrown across the room.

Accusations of betrayal were thrown around the table as an energy field was raised nullifying the powers of the heroes in the room. The tense quiet was suddenly broken by the blast doors sealing the group in and Alicia walking in greeting the group with the revelation no one (EXCEPTCAZIMIR, DAMNIT) saw coming.

Silkana, the wayward Xanti pretender-princess stood across from them all welcoming them to the next phase of her conquest of the planet. They were then all told they were welcome aboard her ship and she simply wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Save the Four, Save the World

The characters travel to Marion, Ohio where they find the portal into which Maggie disappeared. With nothing to lose, Trent leaps into the unknown, followed – despite their severe misgivings – by the others. They find themselves in a stone tunnel, beautifully and intricately carved. The very rock around them gives off heat and the air is dry. As they walk down the tunnel, they investigate noises behind a heavy wood door and find bipedal birds with pike weapons on the other side! They manage to start a needless fight, and defeat them, when more birds appear down the hall, with human priests who seem able to summon fire from the very air. However, diplomacy wins out this time, and despite the lack of common language they proceed past. They come to a door that leads into the bottom of a canyon. On the far wall of the canyon is a four story tall stone door, with chanting emanating from the other side. They shove the door open.

Inside, Maggie is held suspended in air by an energy field above a dais. A number of priests are chanting around her, and most amazing of all a massive dragon sits atop a pile of gold behind all this. They spring into action, but the dragon gouts fire, killing all the priests, and singeing everyone badly. Trent grabs the dragon and pins it with his branch arms, while Finley pulls Maggie down from on high. Rain sprays bullets at the dragon, and Leon finishes it off with a sky dive spear attack to its head. When Maggie is released she insists they visit her old village to see if everyone is ok. She tells them this is her real world, just as she has always claimed. However, when they go to the village, it is destroyed – the dragon who kidnapped her left nothing behind. However, the alien creature that had been hunting Maggie is only a head on a pike in the dragon’s lair. With Maggie’s increased power from the ritual that had been occurring, she takes them all back to Reality One.

Back home the reinforced team joins back up with Jin and heads to Chicago. As they are approaching to look for Adam, they find a military cordon stopping them as the city is in lockdown with the Sirens controlling everything! As they debate with the army officers, something falls from space and crashes into downtown Chicago! They use the confusion to slam on the gas and head towards the disturbance. They find a strange escape pod and out of it comes a bipedal lizard with a huge sword. What’s worse, the Chicago Sirens have shown up as well. A three way brawl ensues, and a fourth force is thrown into the mix as the Suji-built military robots are deployed, then hacked by Null. The heroes manage to defeat everyone, and when Elaine Shulte is defeated, Adam pops out of her interdimensional space. Even more bizarre, the space lizard – Stardragon – splits into 5 intelligent Popple-like creatures that explain they are from the Concordat and here to look for Anubis. It seems that the Xanti Imperium is attacking the Concordat, and has its sights set on Earth! And finally, Null transmits himself to San Francisco, likely to take over the Applied Robotics fabrication facility there.

The players use the smart-ass Class 2 artificial intelligence, Calamity Toggle, in Star Dragon’s escape pod to locate Anubis and smash into his location in Orlando. It seems Silkana has trapped him in a sort of “luxury resort” that is lethal to most non-Xanti. It is an ironic form of torture they reserve for their enemies. However, someone had hacked her computers and turned the heat even higher than normal! They arrive just in time and bring Anubis/Cazimir down from his chained prison over the heating elements, and find his equipment. Cazimir tries to discuss calling the Concordat with Calamity Toggle, but the AI says they will be unlikely to listen to a dispatch from a lowly police officer when they are busy fighting on multiple fronts. They track Norman’s location in Alaska, make one last sub-orbital hop, and find him freezing to death in an old boom-town jail. With the whole team back together they take another jump to San Francisco to seek Null.

By the time they arrive things have already gone to hell. The military is getting punked by newly fabricated, high tech robots controlled by Null. They make their way into the center of the city with the help of some convenient valley-girls, and find a nightmare. The factory is enclosed by small constructor bots that create forcefields that repel any normal weapons. In addition, artillery robots are using magnetic cannons to blast away any military response. However, Trent, Adam, and Leon are having none of it. Trent uses himself as a slingshot and throws Adam and Leon right through the wall and into the inner factory, with the help of Leon’s magic spear! Meanwhile, Rain takes out a heavy bot with the help of Anubis, and Maggie uses her teleportation to get the enemy firing at itself. Norman speeds all over the city checking on civilians and discovers tiny spider robots, the size of a dime spreading out on the wind killing people and absorbing matter! He tries to kill as many as he can, then returns to the party to warn them of this development.

The fight continues, and inside the force shield Leon and Adam find a Xanti hunter-seeker facsimile that Null has created. It vaporizes the cover they hide behind and hammers them with heavy lasers, but they finally get the drop and Adam smashes it open! When he does, all the other robots fall to the ground disabled. Maggie teleports to Trump’s “talent jail” and gets Suji to consult with her, while the others begin cleanup.

When Suji arrives, she and Anubis using his suit realize the robots are still active! The orb pops out of the dumpster, smaller but more perfect in its design, and the constructor bots begin to whirl around it like massive tentacles born on a wind of magnetism. They begin to absorb matter and Null explains to the heroes that humanity has abdicated its responsibility as agents and arbiters of their own future. Why else create machines to do their thinking and work? It will keep humanity alive, but usher them into a new era where it is supreme!

The heroes try to think of a solution, but Null grows weary and sends a disintigrating wave of robots into them. Trent steps forward and absorbs the blast, but he is annihilated! Thinking fast, they contact the unknown AI on Finley’s phone and ask it to draw Null’s attention into a fixed location. The AI agrees but needs help. Maggie teleports and gets the Concordat AI, and Anubis links with his ship AI as well. Null is temporarily stunned. Working together, they use Norman’s powers to focus Jin’s, Anubis’, Finley’s, and Rain’s powers at Null. Maggie drags the whole burst through the negative dimension to give it further power, and Adam will smash it all at the same time, like a plutonium collapse. However, Suji warns this might be dangerous and could create a SUN on the surface of the earth! Worse, Adam fumbles his smash, and the shot goes awry, but Norman spots the error. Acting faster than he ever has, he redirects the blast by creating a vacuum around Null. It pulls all the energy into him as well, and while a huge blast of energy begins to form, he pulls it ever closer until he and Null are just a point of infinite light and energy that vanishes in a puff. He is gone, and the Concordat AI is in shambles. Everyone is sick with mild radiation poisoning from Jin’s powers. The day is won, but at what cost?

However, just then there is a shimmering, and Norman in a white uniform phases into being like a ghost. This Norman is odd, with a cross-shaped scar on his cheek. Has he changed somehow? There is no time to be anything but overjoyed as the military takes them to a decontamination site and they pass out from the rads.

At the decon site, they are visited by Damien and Alicia. He checks up on them, tries to get them to join his “team” again, but mostly says thank you. Then he invites them to karaoke later, when they feel up to it. They take him up on the offer and he leads off the night with a rendition of “Worlds Apart” by Journey…the same song Silkana played in the alternate future.

But all is not well as Anubis sees the news outside the singing room. Bai has been shot and killed by an assailant during her United States tour. Unthinkable tragedy seems to follow them no matter where they go, and so the episode ends.

Times of Later, Before

Season Two opens in the techno-future-cyber hellscape of fallen Boston. The world has descended into chaos and tribalism in the 204xs since the disappearance of the Four. The resistance, those who oppose High Theocrat Pence and the AI, Null, fight a seemingly endless war for survival. Seekers, bio-engineered and adaptive zerglings hunt them when they use powers, and everything is grimdark. The failed invasion of the earth by the Imperium and the years of AI dominance have left little recognizable.

Leon Idas, The Rain, Finley Rosenbaum, and Trent “The Ent” are officers in the rebellion, which is led by an elder Bai, The Knight aka Robert Feuerbach, and Pablo Perez. Intelligence reports indicate that Mike Pence will be “reinstalling” his mind control over the local Boston flock in two days time at Gillette Stadium with the help of his governor Tom Brady. They are to take some of the other resistance members (Amber “Kinetic” Proust, a few non-talent members) to stop them. To aid in this goal they are given a super-powerful data disc to play over the stadium sound system that will help disrupt the mind control.

They head through the shattered remains of Boston, and encounter savage remnants of civilization, though the world has been greatly depopulated by the nuclear fires of the Imperium warships, and the nanite swarm of Null that is a constant aurora reminder in the sky. They brave a derelict Imperium seeker robot and head underground to avoid a nanite storm. There they meet Kirana Sess’takotta, one of the many Xanti “Lizards” who were left stranded on Earth after the invasion. She hates Pence and Brady almost as much as the Resistance, and after a tense face off with Leon she agrees to lead them to Gillette.

They infiltrate Gillette, hidden in burlap robes. Finley heads up to the sound room with Amber, while the others wait for Pence to arrive at field level. Tom Brady announces Pence’s arrival, and he comes in with the mind control helmet to sit on his throne. Meanwhile, Finley seduces a supermutant guard to let her up to the sound room, which is run by Alan Jones, son of Alex Jones. Alan tries to sexually harass Finley by screaming about conspiracy theories, but she is having none of it and springs her trap, and they take him out with concentrated laser fire. They run to the sound room just in time and pop in the data disc which plays…

The National Anthem! The mind controlled people of the flock get teary eyed and remember what the United States used to be, and begin to throw off their mind shackles. Rain, Leon, and Ent spring into action and try to attack Pence, but the guards and Brady intervene. Brady goes mano-a-mano with Leon, accusing him of killing Bill Belichick, and tears off his sleeve to reveal a cyber throwing arm. Finley leaps out of the press box at Pence but he creates a forcefield. After a drawn out battle, Pence is grievously wounded and disappears in a pillar of white flame and Brady leaps into the flame as well, griefstricken. Just then, the sound of Seekers draws near, roiling over the side of the stadium, which means it is time to go!

They manage to escape but get a message from Resistance HQ. Null has been acting strangely recently, and there is some weird energy near one of his hardened bunkers. They want the team to check it out. They head over there and find a bizarre disturbance of localized energy. As they try to figure it out, a beautiful but wounded Imperium Xanti points a huge gun at them and says she needs their help before stunning them all with a blast from the gun and dragging them into the building and inside the disturbance. Inside, it is as if the decay of decades has never occurred. Everything is new, shiny, and well kept. They wake up and she introduces herself as Silkana, and that Null has gone back in time to do something to the past to ensure he wins. It probably has something to do with killing the Four!

She requests that they head into the time warp and try to stop Null. There is a debate as Leon, a veteran of the Imperium invasion, has words for Silkana. She says in the correct timeline, she might have been an awful person, but she found love and was pardoned. She gets to work, listening to “Worlds Apart,” her mates favorite noraebang song, whom she says died in the assault on this facility, though she won’t expound any further.

Suddenly, as she is preparing things, Null chimes in with his schizophrenic voices, telling them all it is futile to resist, but also offering his “help” in Happy Jack voice. Silkana says it is now or never as Null invades the computers from EveryTime at once!

They jump into the time rift and end up in Hong Kong. They meet Jin “Johnny” Woo, who works for the Beijing government trying to prevent violence from the Democracy Now group run by prominent talents in the Free City. They stop at a cafe and explain the situation to Johnny, who is incredulous, but then again he is a flying atomic bolt shooting man, and he agrees to give them some leeway as they investigate where Null might have gone. Their first clue is a number of prominent high-capacity wireless network shipments to the small town of Marion, Ohio…

Fall of the Four?!

The heroes have retired to their personal corners of the world, focusing on loved ones, lives now lost, or individual accomplishments. However, in the shadows a new threat rises.

Maggie gets an email from her brother, from a past she no longer remembers. He wants to catch up with her at a pizza joint in Marion, Ohio. She agrees and begins the long teleporting journey over. Meanwhile, Cazimir spends some quality time with his girlfriend, trying to repair their relationship. She feels like he has changed – little does she understand how much – but the parts of the Mechalus that are still Cazimir feels a loyalty and pain that he cannot describe. Norman, meanwhile, gets a message from a friend that his grandparents haven’t been heard from in quite some time. He runs over to the house in Kansas to find them missing, and a search begins. Adam Cleese sits in his crime lair, waiting for the chance to save the day. The opportunity presents itself right away, with reports of an officer under fire on the South Side, and he runs their to check it out.

Maggie meets her brother, who shares with her pictures of their parents, and the research vessel she was onboard for Xerxes Group. After a long conversation, he invites her back to the family home to try to jog her memory. She agrees, and they walk over. They go down into the basement and she opens a chest of “mementos” in the middle of the room. However, as she does, her brother trips a technological trap on the wall that encases her in a multi-dimensional field, preventing her escape. The young man casts of his disguise to reveal himself as a human-sized mantis creature names Zaxxis, hunter of creatures with dimensional energy. He received a bounty from an unknown buyer who he calls and says the job is done. She tries to contact the other heroes, but to no avail. However, as he tries to harvest Maggie’s energy, she stretches her power and bursts into another world – a barren wasteland of crystal pylons. She isn’t in Kansas anymore…

But Norman is! And he can’t find his family no matter where he looks. Then he gets a message from an unknown source. They say they have a little scavenger hunt for him. If he follows it, then he will get his grandparents back safe and sound. They tell him various locations around the country to travel to, and he realizes he is starting to slow down and get tired. They have done something to his powers! As he follows the sadistic game, he receives Maggie’s message. Despite the warning from his harassers, he runs to Marion to try to help Maggie. He arrives at her family house too late. Both she and Zaxxis are gone!

Adam follows the police dispatch to an abandoned warehouse. A police officer is inside the dilapidated building, badly injured. But as he approaches, the illusion is revealed and the police officer is actual Jean Mougey! She blasts him with ice and he is wounded. She reveals that she has some help this time, as someone gave them the impetus to deal with him once and for all. Catherine Ferdi has illusion powers and uses them to confuse him while Jean blasts him, and a fight rages. Catherine is infuriated that Adam paid attention to all the women but her on the Lachesis! But suddenly, the batshit insane Elaine Shulte joins the fight too, and traps him in an extradimensional null space she can create, just as Maggie’s request for help reaches his communicator!

Cazimir is out with Kristin at the ferris wheel park, when he gets Maggie’s message for help. However, there is no time for that as the ferris wheel explodes and threatens to collapse under its weight as people scream and scramble for safety. He summons Anubis, but as soon as he does, a violet beam of energy lances out at his ship and damages it badly, sending it into the atmosphere. It was a trap. A dragonoid robot, clearly of Imperium make, lands. The pilot identifies herself as Silkana Drost Trkoshvrian and say that Earth is hers. She beats on the suitless Cazimir, who has the Anubis suit ram them both in one last desperate attempt to stop her.

Divide and Conquer

As disagreements crack the team’s barely-united front, can they come together in time to stop a newly emerging threat? What will happen when Bai Sagina visits Freddy Koss, and what does his rejuvenation mean for the future? And meanwhile, in New York, a disaster is unleashed prompting new heroes to step forward. All this and more, next time on Heroes of a New World…

Beneath the Surface

The characters, desperate to get to the bottom of Project Charlemagne, travel to Washington DC to eavesdrop on the conversation between General Krieger and Senator Burr. Beneath the shadow of the Washington Monument they overhear bits and pieces of information. The deep state group they are a part of are indeed trying to weaponize a talent in the hopes of taking control of the government! However, their reasons for this are murky. They reference governmental infiltration by some “outside force” and how Project Charlemagne is a response to this existential threat. A guest star joins them at the recommendation of Agent Skiles – Anon, an ex-assassin who can turn invisible and has turned over a new leaf after the Lachesis event!

Unsatisfied by this amount of information, they decide to act and infiltrate Fort McNair itself. With the help of “Morph” the talent who could take over bodies from episode 3 they take over the General and Norman and an invisible Anon go with him into the base. They make their way to the building that contains “Project Charlemagne” and find a huge cargo elevator hidden inside the APC garage. “Morph” isn’t exactly the best actor in the world, but they convince the privates guarding the elevator to get lost and head down into the facility.

With the rest of the team waiting outside the base in case of trouble, they are quickly called into action. When Norman and the General get to the bottom and enter the base “airlock” their powers are negated by some technology in the walls! Anon becomes visible and the General calls for help! How can such a thing exist in such a short time frame? There is no time to wonder as soldiers with hyper-advanced “plasma” weapons surround them and drag them to holding cells.

Wasting no time, Maggie ports into the warehouse with Caz and Adam leaps the entire distance in a few bounds. With little regard for stealth, Adam smashes through the elevator door and they head into the underground base. Adam rips the vault door off its hinges and throws it through the “nullifier” room, nullifying it right back! The wide bunker hallways are mostly empty except for a few scared scientists peeking their heads out to see what the commotion is. They demand answers from the first group they find, and get a layout to the base. Soldiers begin to stream down the corridor, but Adam grabs a door and shoves them down the hall, holding them off while the others rescue Norman and Anon.

Norman and Anon had their own ideas of escape, and jump the guards who aren’t expecting resistance. Norman gets shot, while Anon gets in a man on man fight with McMasters and manages to take him out.

The group, minus the holding-action Adam meet up and head to command and control. They demand the surrender of the officers their, but General Krieger says NEVERSURRENDER and starts shooting. They disable him and continue on to the last part of the base – the research and containment wing.

Inside are computers, labs doing gene-sequencing and tissue growths. In the very center of the room is a cold-storage tube that contains a massive, reptilian alien! Hating to see anyone in captivity Maggie releases the creature and it begins to awaken! Adam has retreated back to this room as well, and the soldiers are approaching. It is time to leave. Anon and Maggie teleport the team out, and then Maggie reaches to teleport the alien. Just as the teleport goes off, it swings and smashes her in the face, the punch sending her through the roof of the APC garage!

The team tries to “gently” fight the alien, but after a quick combat it expires. It appears that it had previous injuries and was only being kept alive by its hibernation. With nothing left to do, they make their way out of the base and escape.

In Chicago, Adam confronts a bizarre threat. Someone has put an impenetrable orange energy field around the Sears Tower and he rushes to the scene. When he approaches, Lt. Samuels tells him that no one can get in, and many are still trapped inside! Adam touches the field and it lets him in with a “welcome” heard in his mind!

In Orlando, the rest of the team parses through the genetic data and computer data stolen from the army base. The research into the creature began almost six years ago, prompting many in the government to believe that an alien infiltration was beginning. Apparently it was the “civilian contractor” that brought this fact to their attention. The civilian also told them the alien would try to create “super men” to help it take over the planet and sow confusion – the talents! Who could know this before it even happened!?

Skiles arrives and they tell him this information. He is incredulous, some of his arrogant attitude gone (but not much). He tells them he sent them in to test if these people had anti-talent tech as reports indicated, but never dreamed an “alien” was involved. He points out that whoever this civilian contractor is they went right to the most paranoid and right wing of the military industrial complex. The sorts who would readily believe in infiltration and that they were the only ones who could save America. He tells them he is going to try and find this contractor, they had better be careful. But if they have any ideas, start looking into it. Taking a listening device from Norman’s ear he excuses himself.

Back in Chicago, Adam fights his way through a strange menagerie of puppeted people and living armor, with no real theme or sense. He arrives on the top floor and finds Terrance Crocker. Terrance has dubbed himself “Jupiter” with burgundy, overwrought robes and a grand gold scepter starts his monologue asking Adam to join him. They should have power after living so long in other peoples’ shadows. It was high time some “blue collar” sorts showed people what for. Adam expressed his disgust and simply walked away. Terrance told Adam about how he was fired and couldn’t afford money for his mother. Was that the sort of world he represented? Isn’t it about time they got some comeuppance? He thought Adam was a like soul, but now he sees he is just another silver spoon spoiled college brat. He lowers his staff and blasts Adam with lightning!

Adam, sick and tired of it all flying tackles Jupiter over the side of the tower. Terrance has forgotten a cardinal rule of villainy – never be a villain on top of something really tall unless you can fly!

They both smash into the ground, Adam bruised and Terrance knocked unconscious. For now, the world is safe from one more talent. But did Terrance have a point, even in his selfish ramblings? Something to consider!

Who is the civilian contractor? What are these aliens, and do they mean the world harm? Can the deep state’s power grab be stopped? And will talents continue to choose the path of power rather than the path of altruism? Find out in the next episode!

The Ties that Bind

(April Lane notes in her latest Public Sentiment from the end of this episode there is a wide disparity in some of the answers. Responders gave extremely negative responses to “Do you think talents should be registered, and Do you feel comfortable with talents.” However, they were rather positive on the question “Do you appreciate the contributions talents make to society,” specifically noting the actions of people like “The Masked Muscle” Norman and Bai)

Norman and Cazimir proceed to San Antonio to investigate the missing talents, while Adam stays in Chicago to get his turf in order. He begins to help out various twitter followers to build up a ring of contacts, and has a few install some basic equipment in a storage facility he is renting to become his “secret base.” With the super computer he requested as his favor from Damien Xerxes things begin to come together. He also stops by a gym, where the proprietor asks him to shill in exchange for a free membership. The owner also introduces him to Pablo “Prince of Punch” Perez, an ex-MMA fighter with a sarcastic attitude and a mocking attitude towards Adam.

In San Antonio Caz and Norman go to the hospital and speak to Luis Mercado, the talent that escaped the facility where the missing talents are taken. Luis is suspicious of the characters’ intentions, but Caz gets him to open up and he tells them the few things he remembers from his drug induced incarceration. There were a number of other talents at the facility, and a cat that walked through walls and objects. He couldn’t be sure, it seems like a dream. There was one name he heard over and over though – Doctor Medows. They ask Luis where he was picked up, and he tells them the area. That night they head out to see what they can find.

In Chicago, Adam spends some time with Ai, talking about her encounter with Jean Mougey. Ai is struggling to reconcile her desire to get back to work and live a normal life, with the thrill she experienced in her running combat with the ice talent. She finally asks Adam if he ever finds Mougey to let her know – she wants to be involved in taking her down. The next day, Adam hears a report over his police scanner. An ice talent in robbing Fifth Third Bank on Cermak. He dons his costume and speed off down the street (wrecking quite a bit of public property on the way). When he arrives the police have cordoned off the area. The chief officer on the scene, Lieutenant Samuels, makes it clear that The Masked Muscle “had better not sneak in and try to deal with this talent that might get his men killed if they go in instead.” Adam takes the hint and leaps to action.

Inside, he first encounters a new sidekick Jean has found – Mike Finch. He wears noise cancelling head phones and anytime he thinks of and sings lyrics he gains the ability described! He powers up with Indestructible, then tells Adam “I’m burning for You!” when they grapple. Finally, Adam rips off Mike’s headphones and has an idea. He sings his own lyrics “Take my Breath Away” and Mike begins to choke and pass out. That problem solved, he runs back to the vault to find Jean with a number of hostages, loading up money. She revels in her power and tells Adam “Why wouldn’t I take all this money when I can.” Adam prioritizes the hostages, and after a brief fight Jean blasts out the back wall and runs away.

Back in San Antonio, Caz and Norman narrow down the search to a gas station or a shipping company on the south side. When they see a cat walk through the metal of a chain link fence coming from the shipping company, they know they have the right place. Caz as Anubis drops Norman off on top of the roof and the speedster sneaks in through the cooling vents. Some no-neck military types are guarding the top floor, but Norman knocks them out without a sweat, and the two find a high-tech elevator to the basement. Anubis can barely fit in the elevator, and as they descend the base goes into alert mode! The door opens on the bottom floor and twenty soldiers are waiting with guns trained. They open fire without question, but not before Norman is already zooming around the room, trying to take guns.

The bullets ricochet off Anubis harmlessly, and he throws soldiers around like rag dolls. In only a few moments they have taken care of the enemies, and the base goes into deeper lockdown! Blast doors begin to segment the basement, but Norman runs under them and finds the security room in an instant. He stops the lockdown and he and Cazimir find the main operating room, where Doctor Medows has a number of unconscious talents. She insists they leave, and tell her she has every right to be working here – it is authorized by the US government. The commanding officer at the base, Captain Lance, also makes an appearance and under interrogation reveals his boss to be Major Tarkanen.

They free the talents and find a last talent restrained in a liquid filled tube. Doctor Medows says that they have experimented on this talent and he is essentially a human bomb. They can’t let him out of stasis or thousands could die. They wake him (Mario Ramirez Yarto) up anyway, and Norman runs him out to the desert, where he gives off an explosion like a nuclear bomb.

They notify the authorities, and Norman asks Damien to pick up Mario and take him somewhere safe. The business magnate is all to happy to comply. While the experiments are halted for now, and friendly media like CBS and April Lane paint the true horror of the facility with the help of video from Anubis, the government line is that this facility was used to help talents with powers too dangerous for society. They point out that the “nuclear explosion” in the desert was an example of such a menace, and it is being “mischaracterized.” A few are smart enough to see through this, but many are scared and believe the rhetoric.

Adam gets a call from Ai who says she saw a news report that Jean is attacking a bank. Adam apologizes and says the fun is already over. She says that is ok, she was on her way to help but her line suddenly goes dead. Adam runs to try to find her, but it turns out she just incinerated her cell phone in a spat of anger at missing her “rival.” Adam promises not to leave her out again. Ai says it can be their first date if he manages to track Jean down.

The characters regroup and head back to their homes to tie up loose ends. Caz reconciles with Kristin, but she explains that he has changed – when she sees him in the mirror it is like a stranger coming up behind her. She will have to try and start over, and Caz agrees. Norman speaks to his family and James, and tells them it isn’t safe for him to come home. He comes to the hard decision to work with Damien Xerxes. He meets with Damien and lays down his ground rules, and they retire to discuss the future.

After that Adam and Caz both get a text asking to meet at the St. Louis airport, the Starbucks beyond gate 3. used to this sort of thing they decide to do it and find Alicia Evans waiting for them. She says she doesn’t have much time, as she is on layover to DC. It has come to her attention that Norman has decided to work with Damien and she thinks this would be an incredibly bad idea. While she believes in the work of XSpace, she doesn’t believe Damien is responsible when it comes to talents and their new powers. She also tells them that he has kept a number of very important things from them. First, that they were entered into the contest for Lachesis before they entered. Second, that the Baikal story is one of many that he gives – the real news is that Damien actually has a full ship on site, a ship that had the Atropos engine inside of it! He has a number of plans he keeps obfuscated that she has begun to worry about.

However her warnings fall on deaf ears, and pointing out that she is asking for nothing in return for this information she departs.

Norman, back in Orlando, has a surprise visitor sitting in his chair at home when he arrives. Agent Skiles is there and gives another long speech about protecting the nation, and the ideals that go beyond any constitutional authority. He tells Norman that there is a faction in the government, militant and fanatic, that wishes to overthrow the current administration and take power. Another deep state entity like the one Skiles works for. He doesn’t know the exact extent of their plans, but he has narrowed it down to a General Krieger who works out of Fort McNair. Norman asks why Skiles is telling him, and why he needs the talents to do his dirty work, extremely pertinent questions. However, Skiles plays coy. Despite his misgivings, Norman feels he has to share it with the rest of the party. They ask Damien to use the computer in the Life Boat and they hack into Krieger’s and the McNair databases. After a quick search, it becomes clear that there is indeed a shadowy group in the government working on something called “Project Charlemagne.” The proof of its ‘extra-governmentality’ is in it’s extreme level of restriction. The only people allowed to go to the location of the project on the base are Mike Pence, Senator Burr, General Krieger, and NSA Chief Rogers. They search all of these people’s computers as well, finding various hints at nefarious activities perhaps, but nothing conclusive. There is also evidence that Medows, Lance, and Tarkanen are subordinates who are seeking a talent that can be weaponized by the group. Finally, one last person has super-user access to the Project – a civilian contractor that is not mentioned by name in the records. Burr and Krieger have a meeting together in the capitol square, and Anubis and Adam plan to eavesdrop.

What is Project Charlemagne? Why does Skiles want them to investigate? What is going on with Evans and Xerxes? Find out in the next episode!

Forget Me Not

The episode opened with the Life Boat finally arriving at the Xerxes complex. The staff and Damien himself were shaken by the death of the flight crew and excuse themselves to deal with the fallout. With April Lane and soon the rest of the press scrambling for an interview just outside the gates, Alicia Evans goes to handle PR. The characters are left to pick over more of the Life Boat to see what they can find. Anthony Carter, the head of Life Boat Research and Special Projects accompanies them, very excited to be able to participate in such earth shaking proceedings.

A few items prove to be incredibly interesting. A blow torch that is capable of cutting through almost any material with ease. A space suit that when donned causes the wearer to fall through the ground as if insubstatial (good thing Maggie tried this one on!) Norman decides to try some morphine from a medical kit that detects as having a large amount of Atropos energy. He passes out, and wakes up in someone else’s body in what appears to be the middle ages in the breach of some wall, smoke and provincial home scattered about. Little does he know that his mind has wound up at the Battle of Orleans under the flag of Joan of Arc!

The rest of the characters try to wake him through a variety of emergency measures, but the effect doesn’t last long and he regains consciousness. The rest of the heroes listen to his tale with a bit of annoyance at his recklessness, but are fascinated nonetheless.

Norman decides he will check into the ‘anonymous woman’ Consuelo Menses, and runs to her home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She is at home with her grandson doing chores, and Norman inquires about how her powers work. How does she make people forget who she is and not bother her? She tells him it isn’t all good – her checks have stopped coming in mail for her pension, and so her grandson has had to borrow money. But she agrees to try projecting her power onto Norman to experiment with “secret identities.”

The first attempt makes her grandson completely forget him, so he asks her to try one more time, but make it so only certain people forget him. She gives it a whirl, but this time anyone who sees Norman is put off by how ‘unknown’ he is, seeming sneaky and inhuman. In the end he has her turn the power off for now, and asks her to keep practicing. He also offers his assistance with monetary issues or any problem she might have.

Norman goes back to the Xerxes compound when a double whammy hits the characters. First, Johnny Lennox, Adam Cleese’s agent calls him to tell him that Adam just got a Subpoena in the mail signed by the Senate Intelligence Committee and Tom Cotton. Adam remembers that he slept with Tom Cotton’s mistress, and so the Senator might be looking for payback. The hearing is ostensibly about finding answers to the talent situation, and the growing levels of talent vigilante-ism, but Cotton wants to catch him in a lie so he can ruin him.

They all attend the hearing with all but Adam in the gallery. Tom Cotton and others ask what he saw onboard the Lachesis, if Damien Xerxes has any dangerous technologies he hasn’t disclosed, and if Adam knows the identity of the Anubis robot (Cazimir). For the most part Adam answers relatively accurately, though he refuses to answer on Anubis, but Cotton promises to subpoena that information and hold Adam in contempt. After the hearing, Cotton tells him this isn’t the last of this issue!

Next the characters hold up their scheduled meeting with April Lane on her Channel 6 News show. They discuss crime and punishment in an era of talents, what responsibilities talents have to follow the law and have the law protect them as well. They also discuss talent jails and the talent tax. Most of the characters proclaim their desire to live by the laws and rules of normal people, and to abide by the same morals that they were raised with. April thanks them after the show.

Cazimir asks April if she has done any more news stories about the disappearing talents, and April tells him that a talent named Luis Mercado escaped his drug induced stupor at a facility somewhere in San Antonio. While he doesn’t remember anything, he has a teleporting power and is recovering in a hospital – they could check with him for any further leads.

As the prepare for a trip to San Antonio, they get one more surprise. It seems someone has mailed them all a package containing a revelation – the contest to go up to the Lachesis wasn’t rigged, but their names were on the list of entrants PRIOR to them entering. Someone has also included in depth research on each of them in the mailed packet.

The Unstoppable Freddy Koss

The players take a tour of Damien Xerxes’ headquarters and begin to get an idea of the man and his mission. It seems that Damien found the technology for the Lachesis buried beneath Lake Baikal. He shows them the “prototype” Atropos Engine he created that contains the Atropos material inside a energy absorbent metal cage. All technologies that shouldn’t exist. However, the real secret is the Atropos material itself, and it’s “purple energy” that defies physics, coming from some elsewhere.

Damien shows them other parts of the facility as well, such as the nano-fabricators and the mission control section. But he has one more surprise up his sleeve. He takes them to a hidden room off the beaten path, the walls perfectly smooth and covered in a honeycombed white material that gives off an ambient light. He tells the characters that this is a room totally cut off from any tracing or surveillance and he can speak frankly. He achieves this incredible feat with the help of a true AI that he pieced back together a few years ago. The crazy just doesn’t stop!

Damien lets the characters know that someone in the company seems to be subtly manipulating things from behind the scenes. Whatever they are doing, he can see the effects and “feel” rather than enumerate the many ways in which the company has shifted towards certain outcomes. At that time the AI chimes in that Alicia Evans is looking for him urgently. With a meaningful raise of his eyebrows, he dismisses himself.

They take some more time to explore the facility and find the ONEROOM they aren’t permitted to enter. Before they get a chance to do some breaking and entering, they are invited to the mission control section to observe the recovery efforts back at the Lachesis. A pod was recently launched to investigate what parts of the Lachesis might be salvageable. As they watch the pod on screen, they are stunned to see what looks to be a human moving about in the decompressed portions of the station. Worrying about entering in light of this revelation, they ask Damien to order the pod to check out the derelict Clotho while they consider what to do. The Clotho has some surprises of its own. The duplicate man from their time on the resort is dead in the cockpit of the Clotho, apparently burned by a jolt of plasma.

The crew of the pod and Damien decide that if someone is alive on board the Lachesis they have to investigate. They board the station and find Freddy Koss! He is alive but once onboard he takes some time to get breathing air again. As the pod reenters he gets his wits about him and hears Norman’s voice on the radio. That’s the bastard that left me up there! He roars. I can feel some more of that sweet purple stuff somewhere out there, I’m gonna get it and kill you, you piece of shit!

He jumps out of the solid wall of the pod, killing the pilots as it erupts in atmospheric reentry. Freddy is none the worse for wear landing in the desert of Nevada. The players are stunned and have to decide what to do – Freddy looks to somehow be heading this way, and while he is no speedster like Norman he will arrive in only a few hours. They decide they can’t hide the Atropos forever, they must confront him.

They rush out to Nevada, and intercept Freddy just outside Reno. They banter a bit, but Freddy won’t be deterred and he is as racist and annoying as ever! Adam gets decked and flies almost half a mile, dazing him and almost taking him out of the fight. Cazimir as the robot Anubis blasts away and Norman punches and tries to trip or distract, but nothing even phases the strength and energy shield of the giant. A stray shot from Cazimir even destroys the Reno sign!

However, Cazimir has a trick up his sleeve and uses his one neutralizer grenade, temporarily lowering the beasts energy field. He is (slightly) vulnerable, and Adam busts out the punch of his life, staggering Freddy while Caz lays down a withering hail of fire and Norman attacks faster than the eye can see. Together they temporarily knock out Freddy and Cazimir flies him into low earth orbit, leaving him there for the time being.

The threat averted they return to Damien, who offers them a “team up” of sorts. He will provide them with funding and a base of operations, and they will handle incidents like this. However the group refuses. They don’t want to be beholden to anyone, and secretly aren’t too sure about Damien’s motives. The Life Boat finally arrives and they begin to look it over. More and more incredible objects are discovered all the time, such as a blow torch that can cut easily through any substance.

They finally decide it is time to leave and receive an alarming package of information. A hacker has sent them information about the Xerxes competition that put them on the station. It seems that someone had them as entrants before they even entered the contest, meaning someone wanted them to go up to the station.

Against the Rat God

Donald Trump’s Talent Tax has gone into effect. So far it has not greatly affected any of the characters, and they agree to help Damien Xerxes catalog some of the items on the Lachesis Life Boat that is finally going to be returned to him. There has been word that rats have become a big problem in Chicago, and Adam, taking a break from the talk show circuit decides to investigate.

Before they can head to Chicago, Cazimir gets a call from Mercedes. She has been investigating Damien further and found all kinds of strange information. The technology he is using must have been found or stolen, because it is far beyond anything that could have existed previously. Also, Damien’s assistant Alicia Evans has a background that doesn’t fit – she essentially didn’t exist prior to joining the company seven years ago. There was also the issue of the duplicate man on the Lachesis that Mercedes has become aware of. She asks that she be allowed to meet Cazimir sometime. Cazimir agrees to meet her at JFK international airport.

Feeling a bit suspicious after this call, Caz checks his phone and finds TWO separate bugs installed. A normal one, and a quantum one, far beyond any technology that the government or anyone should have. He files this away and gets on the plane. Meanwhile, Norman has been talking to Suji about getting a suit that won’t burn away when he runs at top speed. She has created an incredible industry in only a couple of weeks, building super-science robots that can accomplish a number of tasks. She agrees to design the suit and will even give Norman a free robot once the first orders are fulfilled.

Adam starts looking for someone who can control rats, thinking that might be the answer to Chicago’s issues. He tweets his many followers and they meet him at the park, mostly fawning hanger-ons that are of no use. However, one man Thomas Hilder, an unassuming sort with small spectacles and a vest, says that he has the power to talk to animals and wondered if that was good enough. He says while he doesn’t know what is going on with the rats, the cats have told him to essentially watch his back, as something bad is going down. An animal controller from Salt Lake City also tweets back at Adam, but can’t make it in time to meet.

Cazimir boards his flight, however half way through it, a strange purple ray from the sky lances out and destroys one of the airplane’s engines! He calls for his Anubis suit and manages to save the day, but obviously someone wanted him dead! After an emergency landing in Charlotte, he calls up Norman to pick him up and they gun it to JFK. They meet with Mercedes who gives them all the information she has, and asks them to stay in touch. It turns out she has a bug in her phone as well, deepening the paranoia.

They catch a flight to Chicago and begin to piece through the Life Boat. The skin of the Life Boat itself seems to have changed, the place where Adam punched through it knitting itself back together and healing on it’s own. Inside there is also a radio that plays a number of things. First is a Kennedy speech on the central bank. Next is an April Lane news report that says Adam Cleese has been missing for two days! Wait that hasn’t happened, they just talked to Adam! Then the channel changes again, and they are receiving broadcasts from the German battleship the Bismarck! Further wonders await. The computer console is running without any power, and it has the ability to connect to ANY server, even if it is offline, with superuser access. They use it to explore a number of servers and learn about government talent programs and about Damien Xerxes’ business.

The scientist helping them look over the Life Boat introduces them to the Exchange – an app that lets people ask for whatever they want, in exchange for favors down the road. It is incredibly popular and seems to be almost flawless in its acquisitional ability.

Adam gets a video from a fan who is going to go looking for the rats below the city to impress him. The fan thinks the old coal tunnels are a great place to start. A few hours later Adam gets what amounts to a hostage video, as the fan finds hundreds of rats that jump him on screen. The email with the disturbing video says to come alone. He calls up the others, who warn him of the April Lane seemingly future news report, but he isn’t too worried and heads off. Sure enough he follows the trail into the coal tunnels and even deeper, into a lair cut out by a rat that came back from the Lachesis calling itself the Rat God. It has seen how popular Adam is and wants to be a God of the surface too. It can change it’s size, control other rats, and control the earth to trap Adam! He is put in holding while he ‘considers’ the offer.

Norman and Cazimir begin to search for Adam. The Rat God has been taking twitter training during Adam’s incarceration, and they are able to follow this finally to the Rat Lair, but not before April’s future-now-present newscast! Adam manages to trick the Rat God into wearing some “special clothes” that will make him popular made of rope, and uses this to try binding the Rat and then choke it out. They save the young man who was kidnapped and he is very grateful and excited to meet Adam. The characters come together and debate what to do with the creature. Finally it is decided to take him to Joshua Jones – the most powerful talent in the world according to the data Cara Saudill had collected that Norman and Caz saw on the Life Boat computer. His mental powers are so great that only other mental talents can survive near him. April Lane shows up and asks for an interview, and also gets them to agree to a special expose on talent crime and punishment.

They box up the Rat God and take him to Montana, where Joshua’s ranch is surrounded by a number of warning signs and dead birds. Adam buys cheese and peanut butter for the Rat, and for the time being this seems to be a perfect solution.

The Life Boat is loaded onto another boat and taken to Cupertino, where it will be analyzed by Damien Xerxes’ people. However, the server with the AI in it was not in the Life Boat. Someone else, perhaps the government, has it!